


lovely name: jack

by we_are_inevitable



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Falling In Love, Light Angst, M/M, No Dialogue, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23832394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/we_are_inevitable/pseuds/we_are_inevitable
Summary: David falls for Jack.Jack falls for David.But Jack's heart seems to be taken by something else.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	lovely name: jack

**Author's Note:**

> This one shot was inspired by the cut song from Newsies, entitled "The Truth about the Moon."
> 
> Originally, this song was written for Sarah Jacobs- but they cut her from the musical, which ultimately meant that this song was cut as well, but there are a few videos of the song on YouTube if you haven't gotten the chance to listen to it!
> 
> I haven't modified any of the lyrics, but rather than Sarah, I felt as though the lyrics fit David really well! So, here's this, and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also: This is not the full song. This is just the first?? half of it, probably?? but go listen to the full song!)

_Latin name: Luna._   
_Hundreds of thousands of miles away from here._

Growing up, David had always been fascinated with the moon. It was always there, always present. 

He could count on the moon.

_No signs of water, or life, or atmosphere._

The moon wasn’t really there, but he thought of it as a friend.

On long nights when he was younger, when sleep seemed too exhausting to even think of, he would look up at the moon, imagining what it would be like to actually see it up close.

It was irrational. A young dream that spurred him on to learn whatever he could about the one thing he could always talk to, even if he knew it wouldn’t talk back.

_This is the truth about the moon. The facts are black and white._

Facts. They were simple. They didn’t require any deeper thinking- they just… were. They were a locked cage, a safety net, proven to be true with no further questions.

David liked facts.

He liked certainty, liked having an aspect of control. There were no variables in the equation, no way to get it wrong once you knew it. Facts were safe. They didn’t change suddenly, didn’t hurt, didn’t bring failure and didn’t disappoint.

_And yet I couldn’t think of one, while watching it tonight._

Jack was not a fact. He was an enigma- a blip, an outlier, a mystery. There was no certainty when it came to him. He was a walking contradiction- a fearless leader who ran at the first sign of trouble, a tough guy persona who cracked under the weight of the world he had willingly picked up. He was a man like no other.

David liked Jack.

He liked the uncertainty, liked having no aspect of control. Jack was a whirlwind of big ideas broken by a small voice in the back of his mind, a tower of confidence hiding a mountain of insecurities from the rest of the world. He was supposed to be everything David hated. He thrived on impulse, on acting now and thinking later, on asking for forgiveness instead of permission. But David couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but adoration toward him.

_I saw the words all fly away, so fast, so far._   
_Until every letter, every number, had turned into a star._

The “penthouse” was their usual. They would rush to sell all day, making it back early enough to have an hour or two to speak to each other before David would begin the trek back home; but on nights like this, when the moon was so bright that it illuminated the city, when the faint stars could be seen high above their world, they found a little extra time to lie together, talk toogether, be together.

They were friends. Nothing more. Friends who shared their aspirations for the future. Friends who contemplated the “what if” situations. Friends who had far away plans to run, to leave, to get out of the city.

Friends who would never let each other leave without the other tagging along.

_And was the moon especially bright? I really can’t recall._

To David, those meetings on the roof would be the closest thing he ever got to his fantasies. The dreams he had of holding Jack, of kissing him, loving him, cherishing him, taking care of him. They could be safe on the roof. They could be friends. 

Nothing more, nothing less.

But each night, David found himself mesmerized, captivated, distracted by the smile on Jack’s face, the gleam in his eye, the blush on his cheeks when he apologized for saying something stupid. Jack seemed to do that alot- he would be talking about something, cut himself off when he thought it was “beneath” David, as he put it once. David had reiterated that he was always willing to listen, and that had become their new normal. Trusting each other with their pasts, their worries, all of the insecurities they had been holding inside for so long.

_And this was the first time the facts of the matter didn't matter at all._

He didn’t care about anything else in those moments. Those softly spoken confessions that they would never dare tell another soul, those teary eyes, those hearts pounding faster than ever as they finally held hands for the first time, as they finally hugged, as David finally took the initiative and kissed Jack.

Everything left his mind. His fear, his apprehension, his worries. All of it melted away as soon as their lips touched that first time, and the time after that, again and again until they had to physically back away from each other when it was time for David to head home.

He left that night feeling like he was on cloud nine.

_Shall I try to deny all I’ve known from moments past gone?_

He had been ashamed all of his life. Being a young man with an affinity for other men was not something that was well celebrated, not something that necessarily made you many friends on the street.

But now? All of his thoughts about being wrong, about being broken, about being a sinner, were far away from his mind.

If something as good as kissing the man he was in love with was wrong, then David didn’t want to be right.

_Would my heart let me be someone different from me from now on?_

It was an adjustment, still. He had finally accepted it. He was in love with Jack.

But he still couldn’t help but feel terrified every time they held hands on the roof. Couldn’t help but feel worried, feel desperate, feel like he was disappointing everything he had ever known.

Those feelings, those disbeliefs, were what made him push harder to feel completely comfortable around Jack. It wasn’t long before the two of them had made their own little world, but something still hadn’t changed: Jack’s desire to leave behind everything, his desire to pave a new path, find a new home, go somewhere far, far away. David only hoped that he was still part of that plan.

_I learned the truth about the moon._   
_The facts I learned are right._

Jack, in all of his glory, loved David unapologetically. David was his new dream, his new destination, his new life.

But deep down, David knew one fact wouldn’t change. There weren’t many constants to Jack. He was still an enigma- a blip, an outlier, a mystery. But the one thing that Jack Kelly was, was a dreamer. A dreamer who still dreamed of far away places when he lied underneath the night sky, a dreamer who longed for a new destiny, a new life.

David knew that Jack loved him. And he loved Jack more than anything else.

But maybe, just maybe, Jack was still in love with the idea of Santa Fe.

_I only wish it made me feel,_   
_like the lies I learned tonight._


End file.
